Reviews

Most Inspirational Moment

Waking up in the yurt camp, with the sun peeking through tiny gaps in the felt roof so it seemed we were looking up at the starrry night sky.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Exceptionally well informed. Nazim could answer any questions and had an encyclopaedic knowledge of Central Asian and European history. He took great care with our safety and ensured that the group stayed together despite the fact that some of us were not as foit as he was! Sometimes he didn't appreciate that we would have liked a bit of space to do our own thing eg eating a picnic in the park.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Watch out for the very oily food and take plenty of Immodium with you! The temperature in September was ideal, but nights are starting to get cool (especially when eating outdoors) so take a fleece or similar.

Suggestions

The whole visit was absolutely inspiring, and helped me to put parts of world history into context.

Most Inspirational Moment

Seeing the beautiful,well maintained, and  clean (unlitered) cities and environs. The people seem to take a genuine sense of pride and responsibility for their environment (homeland).

Thoughts on Group Leader

Our group leader (Johnnybek) was very knowlegible. He was organized, well-mannered, and managed all 16 personalities of our group without hardly any difficulties.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Discuss the "black market" currency exchange  process with your tour leader before exchanging large amounts of USD. Euro, etc  at the hotel or bank rates!!!!   There are great "price fixed" handicraft shops just outside the registan ensemble in Samarkand ( In diretion of the bazaar) for those travelers who would rather not haggle for souveniers!!!!  Wifi  was available in most of the hotels.

Suggestions

Pack some extra patience for the long wasted day traveling between Khiva and Bukhara (12 hours driving)If possible, different choices should be available at lunch and dinner. I did not like the fixed menu,fixed price meal deals.

Most Inspirational Moment

I enjoyed Khiva most, being a very well preserved walled city the visual impact of the history associated with the country is hard to miss.  I also enjoyed the Kazak singer at the camp fire in the Yurt camp, apart from experiencing this specific type of music the setting made us all relax and feel how special the simplicity of the night was.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Our group leader was very good.  He was very relaxed, fun and nothing was ever a problem.  He was very knowledgeable about the sites we were visiting and gave general information and advice to help us enjoy our stay in Uzbekistan. 

Advice for Potential Travellers

This is a safe country where female and single travellors should feel safe.  I would recommend taking a sleeping bag liner to the Yurt.  Only a couple of times were we required to wear modest clothing to visit some holy places, clothes covering womens elbows and knees was needed.

Suggestions

The drive from Khiva to Bukara is very long and uncomfortable due to the poor state of the road.  It takes 10 hours and for most of it you are bumping along.  If there is an option to go via train or air I would highly recommend that as an alternative.

Most Inspirational Moment

Perhaps the first sight of Registan Square was the most inspirational

Thoughts on Group Leader

The group leader, an Uzbek national, had a good knowledge of the region and organised the tour well

Advice for Potential Travellers

It seems that the whole road between Khiva and Bokhara is being upgraded at present - be prepared for a rough ride. Always take the group leader's advice on suitable places to eat

Most Inspirational Moment

Overall the most striking experience was to see how friendly the people were.  Happy to chat to visitors, have their photo taken or just smile and wave.  The two days in Khiva were probably the highlight of the trip, specially wandering around the town after the official sight seeing.  The locally produced art and crafts were impressive, good choices and reasonable prices.  What was noticable was that stall holders didn't hassle potential customers too much.

Thoughts on Group Leader

The tour leader was very knowledgeable and gauged the mood of the group well.  He was flexible to meet the group's or individual's needs and adapt the schedule, when it became necessary (e.g. delayed flights)

Advice for Potential Travellers

Great place to visit, take plenty of cash for those souvenirs and pack a few cereal bars - food was a bit repetetive...

Suggestions

Visit now before it becomes too touristy!

Most Inspirational Moment

It's incredibly hard to pick out anything above everything else - highlights include the women's hammam (heaven itself after the previous day's long bus ride!), getting used to a wodge of local currency and just the whole 'wow factor' of most of the places we visited. Even after days of mosques, mausoleums and madrassahs, Uzbekistan still seemed to have something to make you take a mental step back!

Thoughts on Group Leader

Having read a previous review, I'd had some qualms about what this trip would be like, but our group leader was more than up to the challenge - nothing was too much trouble for him, which was no mean feat for a group where a third of the people were vegetarians in a resolutely meat-eating culture! He always seemed to strike the right balance between being involved enough in what the group was doing but also letting people go their own way at times, while still being there for an emergency translation when our haggling skills fell apart...

Advice for Potential Travellers

The trip notes do not lie when they talk about long bus rides and anyone taking this trip needs to realise what's involved - the longest one is a bit of a killer mostly because of the poor condition of a significant portion of the road, though our driver was excellent and it never felt unsafe. Vegetarians should resign themselves to a limited menu and fill up on the first course salads (which are usually fantastic) when they can! Approaching this trip with a flexible attitude towards food is key. 

Suggestions

Going on this trip has made me determined to brush up on my Russian as various other Central Asian countries still await, but I can easily see myself heading back to Uzbekistan at some point!

Most Inspirational Moment

A lot to choose from, but the desert fortresses were much better than I'd expected (monumental in a desert landscape) and the silence and brilliant skies and solitude of the yurt camp were to be savoured.  The blue tiled architecture is fantastic against a blue sky - the photographers in our group had a field day.  There's a lot of history here and very little evidence of the nastier sides of the regime picked up on in pre-holiday reading (no soldiers/tanks etc). 

Thoughts on Group Leader

I think we may have been both lucky and unlucky here.  Our leader had excellent knowledge (mentioned by name in the Lonely Planet guide) but wasn't used to leading groups - she'd been given the gig at the last moment and was struggling with it a bit e.g. there was never a welcome meeting as she felt uncomfortable with holding one, but that meant she never really found out the temperature of the group and what it wanted.  As a group we needed more advice on places to eat and she didn't seem to acknolwedge that lunch existed!  Pretty clear she wasn't one of the usual leaders though so probably (?) not representative.  It didn't spoil the holiday but was a frustration for some.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Veggies really should stock up on supplies or reconsider Uzbekistan, it is a concept that doesn't really compute!  Otherwise, just the usual safety stuff - no one on our trip was affected by tummy troubles, but we were all taking sensible precuations, and take plenty of entertainment for the long road trips.

Suggestions

Don't expect quick service.  My advice is go for the smaller family run eateries where they take you into the kitchen and show you what's cooking rather than bigger restaurants where they cater for the big coach-sized trips and won't be bothered about smaller groups.  Better to support smaller operations anyway I reckon.  Ask locals where they eat (one of the best places we went to we were shown to by a man selling postcards).The Uzbekis seem to just love having their photos taken, especially with Westerners.  We are as much of a curiousity to them and they are to us, which is great!